Welcome to BDOC! Mar 13-19

Well another week, a new school. This is school #6 in the 2 months that I have actually been working. As any class that I have been to you end up doing paperwork when you first arrive. Since this is the BDOC for all SWOs on the eastern part of the world you'll have people from Spain, Jacksonville, Virginia, and others like me who for certain reasons couldn't go to the one in California. We spent a good hour working on paperwork so that it can get into the system correctly. After that we had the welcome aboard from the Admiral and the instructors.

Once that spill of hellos was over we were broken off into our separate wardrooms (classrooms). There were assigned seats so you went to the desk that had your name and ship's information. This school is about 9 weeks long and consists of 6 exams. 5 of these 6 exams only require you to make a 75% to pass but the real challenge is the Rules of the Road exam which requires you to make a 90% to pass. Guess which group got the Rules of the Road exam first? My class 😭 all my happiness was snatched when I saw all that information scribbled on the boards. I can't complain much because regardless of how I feel I can either pass on the first try or spend 2 extra hours after class "studying" until I pass my retake and the next exam. We get out around 5pm so I knew what I had to do to be successful.

Rules of the Road is just what it says but it is for navigating in both US and international waters. Some rules are common sense but others are confusing. There is an acronym for quite a few of the rules. On top of knowing the rules you have to know the lights, day shapes for all ships, and sound signals. It sounds easy until you actually try to apply what you have learned in scenarios. There is a 1200 question Coast Guard test bank that my exam could come from. The exam is only 50 questions but you just don't want to study 100 questions and call it quits. My week was dedicated to rewriting my notes, learning acronyms, and trying to knockout 200+ questions before bed.

With trying to process Rules of the Road we were learning other things in class this week. We even got some simulator time which I didn't like so much. I'm on a newer class of ship so they don't have our program so I was learning how to control a destroyer. The commands were probably the hardest thing I had to process. I never noticed how much you have to understand to successfully drive a warship. It's more military references than I can process i.e starboard= right, port= left, engines flank, standard rudder etc.  Maybe the simulator program will grow on me but after my first few encounters it rubbed me the wrong way lol.

On top of school I was trying to still maintain my workout schedule. That was harder than I even expected. While being in school 7:30am to 4pm or later with minimal breaks (10 minutes max) you end up being soooooo drained and ready to crash once your day is over. I no longer judge Kay from when she would come home and pass out after class lol. I managed to workout twice this week but I was more focused on that exam so I'll make up my missed gym days next week when I am stress free.

Time for a Little Fun

Being that this is my first weekend here and I really haven't seen the girls so I took some time from studying and just enjoyed good company. It has been 6 months since I've seen them so I'm pretty excited and I can ask them any questions on how they did with this crazy exam. Plus one of our friends flew into town for the weekend. During the weekend festivities I actually met one kid who is in BDOC with me but just in the other wardroom. And I ended up meeting a decent amount of Naval Academy grads who happened to be in a certain fraternity. They aren't as weird as the previous ones I have came across so they are cool in my book. But along with the fun I still had to buckle down and study for this exam. By my habits I feel pretty good and know I just need to relax and not change my answers when I am in doubt.